Hand of Fire (The Master of the Tane) (93 page)

Jack pulled the exhausted horses to a halt at Haykon’s lonely east gates in the dark hour just before sunrise. “Open the gates!” he screamed practically falling from his horse, fatigue threatening to overcome him. “Get Colonel Braxton and open the gates!”

             
A guard peaked out over the battlement at the old man and his cargo. “Come back in an hour,” he yelled back. “Gates don’t open until sunrise.”

             
Jack stared up in frustration. “I know they don’t open until sunrise,” he shouted, the anger obvious in his voice. “Just get me Colonel Braxton and I’m sure he’ll make an exception.”

             
“Sorry,” the guard yelled back. “Colonel’s sleeping.”

             
“You listen to me, and you listen good,” Jack yelled back, his anger exploding. “I’ve just returned from beyond the Mogolths where the whole troll nation has just become friendly with the whole goblin nation. Now, unless you want to be the one responsible for Haykon’s destruction because the sun wasn’t up yet, then open these Dren loving doors and get me Colonel Braxton!”

             
There was silence for a brief moment and then Jack could hear the bolts being released and the huge gate swung open. He didn’t waste a moment as he hauled in his cargo and prepared to make off and find the Colonel himself.

             
But two guards pulled him up short before he got ten feet.

             
“Wait just a minute there,” the first one growled grabbing onto the reins of Jack’s horse. “You can’t just go bursting into the city like that, especially at this hour, without first answering a few questions.”

             
Jack turned on the guard unable to hide the deadly fury in his eyes. “I told you,” he snarled through gritted teeth as he grabbed the guard’s tunic. “I need to see the Colonel. It’s an emergency.”

             
“Sorry, sir” the guard said straining to keep his voice kind while shaking Jack’s hand off, “but I only take my orders from the lieutenant and he ain’t here right now.”

             
It was all Jack could do not to draw his sword and cut the man’s tongue out.

             
“Are they dead, sir?” a familiar young voice asked referring to the bundles that were hung and tied over Jack’s horses.

             
Jack turned around quickly and stared down at the childish features of a tired young boy. “Domis, right?”

             
Domis smiled. “You remembered.”

             
Jack jumped from his horse and knelt down in front of the boy. “Listen to me Domis. I need your help. I need you to get Colonel Braxton for me. Can you do that?”

             
Domis paused, glancing quickly at the guards before he nodded. “I think so.”

             
Jack smiled. “Good boy. Tell him it’s Jack and that I’m back from the Mogolths and that it’s imperative I see him right away. Got it?”

             
Domis looked up with wide eyes at the mention of the Mogolths but answered with a simple, “Yes, sir.”

             
“Good boy, Domis. Now off with you.”

             
Domis paused and glanced at the bodies Jack had brought in. A pair of unseeing, dark black glossed over eyes held his gaze for a brief moment seeming to stare right through him. It was as if he stared into the eyes of death itself. Suppressing a cold shiver, he turned away quickly and disappeared into the night.

             
Jack watched the boy go and whispered sadly into his beard, “Hurry, boy. There’s more at stake here than just Haykon.”

             
Jack paced back and forth outside of Colonel Braxton’s office muttering to himself and cursing every other word. Domis had lived up to his promise bringing the Colonel back just in time to keep Jack from pummeling the guards and going after Braxton himself. The Colonel didn’t ask any questions but just led him directly to his office at the center of town. More guards were there to offer their assistance but Jack had flung them away with a word and his hand insisting he carry his two wounded friends in himself. Braxton tried to pump him for information but Jack had refused, insisting he see to his friends first.

             
“You’re lucky,” the Colonel said turning away and calling for one of the guards. “There are two Healers in town. They got here just before the sun set.”

             
Jack only nodded, understanding the significance and great luck but too worried to show his joy at the news. “Get them!” is all he growled.

             
The Colonel just sat in a chair watching him now, quickly giving up the questions that had been recently flying out of his mouth. Jack would not be swayed to talk until the healers were attending to his friends. He had done all he could for them. The way the dagger was positioned in Dor’s chest must have been what was keeping him from bleeding out but the major worry was whether he was bleeding to death internally. He had cut up a cloak and wrapped the dagger, securing it to Dor’s body, hoping to keep it from moving on the hard ride back. He looked at the young boy’s face that was now pale as a corpse. He was still breathing but it was ragged and labored. Tam’s was rapid and shallow.

“Where are they?” he spat turning about and glaring at Braxton.

              Braxton opened his mouth to respond but stopped when two hooded figures suddenly entered the small foyer outside his office. Jack looked at the two with a critical eye. He was grateful to have them there, Healers were well known throughout the kingdom for their skill, but he had a hard time trusting them; they were too secretive about their art. He also worried about Dor and Tam being discovered for what they were.

             
The Healers barely glanced at Jack before pushing past him and into the room. Jack followed, anxious about his friends but was stopped by a hand outstretched from one of the Healer’s robes. “You must stay out. No one is allowed to watch a Healer work.”

             
Jack bristled, ready to draw his sword and teach this rag-covered rat some of the new rules but another hand gripped his arm pulling him slightly back. “Come on, Jack,” Braxton’s voice whispered into his ear. “Let them be to do their work. They’re Healers. They know their business better than any.”

             
Jack glared at the hooded figures who only stood by passively as if unaware of the real threat that faced them. Jack glanced at Dor and then sighed heavily. He stepped back. “Know this,” he growled just before exiting the room, “if either of them dies, then so do you.”

             
The robed figure bowed slightly. “We will do all we can to help your friends.” Then without another word, the door was shut in Jack’s face.

Jack suddenly felt tears forming in his eyes as he leaned his head against the door. “You’ve got to make it, Dor,” he whispered.

              The Healer at the door turned to his companion who was already working on Tam trying to discover her injuries. “What ails her, Kat?”

             
Kat looked up briefly still searching Tam’s body for wounds. “This one seems to suffer from within, Bren,” she answered moving her hands up to Tam’s forehead. Lifting her eyelids, Kat peered into them searching the pupils and the skin under the lids. “Drugged, I would say. Possibly
Pisnin
but more likely
Dranlok
.”

             
Bren nodded as he walked towards her. “Check her ears for fluid. If they’re dry then it’s
Dranlok
.”

             
Kat nodded and pulled back Tam’s hair. Both gasped. Kat took a step back and put her hand to her mouth looking at Bren. “She’s of the Blood,” she whispered. Both shot a look over at Dor.

Without a word, Bren moved to Dor’s side and pulled back his
Dihne
. “He is too!” he breathed.

“But how?”
Kat asked, half in shock.

Bren reached up and touched the scar on his own ear. “I don’t know. I don’t know them.” Dor coughed and blood started seeping out from around the knife. “Help me with him,” Bren said waving Kat over. “He must be first. After they are well, then we will find out more.”

Kat just nodded moving to Bren’s side. Placing a hand on Dor’s shoulder she took a deep breath and then grabbed the dagger protruding from his chest. She looked up at Bren who stared down at Dor for a brief moment and then nodded slightly. With a quick and fluid jerk, she yanked on the dagger pulling it straight out of Dor’s chest. Dor’s eyes shot open and his body jerked about before quickly going still. Blood pumped freely out of the wound now spilling across his chest and dribbling onto the floor. Casting aside the dagger, Kat wiped the blood from the wound and then Bren put his hand over the top of it. Blood poured out from the sides of his palm and up through the cracks in his fingers.

Closing his eyes, Bren calmed his nerves and gathered his strength, seeking in his mind the wound beneath his hand. Then he spoke.
“ReeShonosh.” Smoke suddenly curled up from Dor’s chest slipping through the cracks between Bren’s fingers where blood had poured out only moments before. Taking his hand away, Kat gently dabbed the wound with a damp cloth wiping away most of the blood.

“Careful of the scab,” Bren instructed.

Kat only nodded and then pulled out a bag from beneath her robe. She poured its contents into the water basin that sat between the cots and then stirred it gently with her finger. Pulling out another bag she also emptied its contents into the bowl and then stirred vigorously. In no time, the soupy liquid got thicker becoming as hard and pliable as moist clay. Pulling a chunk from the bowl, she stretched it out over the wound and then helped Bren lift Dor up enough so that Bren could wrap a cloth securely around Dor’s chest. Satisfied with their work, they laid Dor back down onto the cot.

“Would you take care of the girl?” Bren
asked, the fatigue obvious in his face and voice.

“Of course,” Kat answered, already moving towards Tam. “There doesn’t seem to be any liquid in her ears so it has to be
Dranlok
. Her recovery will be long and difficult but she should recover as long as she hasn’t been taking it for too long.”

Bren only nodded.

Pulling a dagger safely hidden up the sleeve of her robe, Kat unceremoniously sliced a small cut into Tam’s right arm. Then, just as indifferently, she made a similar cut in her palm and immediately placed it over Tam’s incision. Immediately, Tam started jerking violently and it was all Kat could do to keep both cuts pressed tightly together.

Bren tried to help by holding down her arms but he was struggling. “She’s reacting against the impurities in your blood.”

“I know,” Kat said through gritted teeth. “The drug’s hold on her is too strong. I don’t know how long I can hold it.”

“You have to finish,” Bren insisted, sweat coming out on his forehead. “I am too weak from helping the other.”

Kat nodded, sweat dripping down her face. Then, without warning, Tam stopped moving completely, lying still on her cot as if dead.

Colonel Braxton watched Jack pace in front of the door having finally gotten the whole story out of him. He didn’t believe Jack at first, thinking it some perverse joke that the goblins and trolls had gathered, but seeing the look on his face had quickly changed his mind. He immediately sent a dispatch to Calandra and then sent more reinforcements to the pass. They had to hold them back in the pass if they were going to have any chance at all at defending themselves. With the numbers Jack was spouting out, Haykon would not last very long on its own. What he couldn’t figure out was why the trolls had passed by the first time and not attacked with support from the goblins. What was driving them? “Jack, will you please stop pacing like that, it’s driving me mad!”

Jack whirled on him, his face in an angry knot when the door suddenly opened producing the two Healers. Jack turned back. Both looked exhausted, but Jack didn’t really notice. “How are they?” he spat, brushing past the two and almost knocking Kat down as he entered the room.

“They will live,” Bren started. “The boy will need his poultice changed often and the girl will suffer from the drug she has been given but with time and rest they should both heal.”

Jack stared at the dagger on the floor by Dor’s cot surrounded by a pool of blood. Looking at the boy’s face, he could see that his color was still bad but that his breathing had improved. It really was lucky that the two healers were there, only they could have healed a wound as bad as Dor’s.

“How did you do this?” Jack whispered pointing at Dor’s chest.

Bren bowed. “It is not our way to reveal the gifts to heal that are within us. We will be back to care for them more in the morning. For now, they must rest undisturbed.”

Jack turned and stared at the robbed figures as if they were wraiths.
But finally nodded his head.

“Come,” Colonel Braxton said extending his hand towards Jack. “They will be well. Let’s get you to bed before you fall over.

“Bring me a cot,” he said the weariness obvious in his voice. “I’ll stay here.”